Bombardier set to win Toronto streetcar bid: report

TORONTO (Reuters) - Plane and train maker Bombardier Inc
looks set to win a major Toronto streetcar replacement contract
after Siemens AG pulled out of the bidding, a Canadian
newspaper said on Wednesday.

The Globe and Mail said only Montreal-based Bombardier and
small British manufacturer TRAM Power submitted bids to the
proposals process, which the Toronto Transit Commission closed
on Monday.

The initial requirement is for 204 streetcars at a price of
about C$1.2 billion ($1.17 billion). The program could
eventually cost more than C$3 billion for about 600 vehicles,
the Globe said.

Bombardier is considered to be the front-runner in the
process after having been picked without open bidding to build
C$674 million worth of new Toronto subway cars in 2006.

The Globe also said TRAM Power's main product is a
prototype light-rail vehicle, giving it less global experience
than Bombardier, the world's top train maker and third-largest
civil aircraft manufacturer.

Last year the TTC said it would need new streetcars to be
completely wheelchair accessible, and at least 25 percent of
the content for the vehicles' design and construction would
have to be Canadian.

Critics said the requirements tilted the bidding process in
Bombardier's favor, given the company's fully-accessible
vehicle models and Ontario plant, the newspaper said.